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Two hours after the destruction of Stokely&039;s pottery, Matthew sat drinking his third glass of wine at a table in the Trot Then Gallop with a half-finished platter of whitefish before hisby and Berry, who had taken hi a pewter cup that had been set at arner donations fros, six groats, and fourteen duits, which was not a bad haul Sudbury had been kind enough to give Matthew his dinner and drink free this evening, and of course the consolation helped but did not lift Matthew&039;s mood froh he&039;d lost his living quarters the Stokelys had lost their livelihood Going through all that wreckage, with Patience sobbing quietly at Hira except the odd cup or plate had been shattered, and all of Matthew&039;s furniture broken to bits He&039;d been able to salvage some clothes and he&039;d found his ss which totaled about a pound and three shillings, all of which now sat on the floor beside hiht him from the house a few of his cherished books had survived, but he would gather those up later It had heartened his and rebuild the pottery as soon as was possible, and he had no doubt that within a ain fro The whitefish didn&039;t go down very well and the asn&039;t strong enough to put hi, where to sleepi

"It was my fault, you know"

Matthew looked across the table into Berry&039;s face She had scrubbed the dust off in a bucket of water, and by the glow of the table&039;s la of freckles across her sunburned cheeks and the bridge of her nose The red hair shone with copper highlights and a curl hung down across her forehead over one unplucked eyebrow She had clear, expressive eyes the exact shade of deep blue as her grandfather&039;s, and they did not ed her as more an earthyhay in a barn, or plucking corn off the stalks She was a pretty girl, yes, if you didn&039;t care for the dainty type Out to make her way in the world, a little adventurous, a little wild, probably a lot foolish and then there were those gap-spaced front teeth, which she hadn&039;t shown since that first quick smile from under the hat, but he knew they were there and he&039;d been waiting for therandfatheri He would not like to think

"Your faulti" he answered, and he took another drink of wine "Howi"

"My bad luck Hasn&039;t he told youi" This was punctuated by a nod of her head toward Marsby replied with a scowl "accidents happen"

"They do, but they happen to me all the time Even to other people, if I&039;lass of wine and took down a swig that Matthew thought Greathouse would have approved of "Like what happened to the preacher, on the Sarah Esby said, or rather pleaded "I&039;ve told you what the other passengers have verified It was an accident, and if anyone was to blame it was the captain himself"

"That&039;s not true I dropped the soap If not for that, the preacher wouldn&039;t have gone over"

"all right" Mattheeary and heartsick, but never let it be said that a good argument couldn&039;t revive the spirit "Suppose you do have bad luck Suppose you carry it around and spread it out like fairy dust Suppose your just being on the spot caused that bull to go et about the cat and the dogs also about the bull seeing his reflection in the glassI don&039;t know the particulars of any other incidents, but it seems to me that you would rather see happenstance as bad luck because" He shrugged

"Because whati" she challenged, and Matthew thought heto the bait, "happenstance is dull It is the everyday order of things that sometimes explodes in unfortunate chaos or accidents, but to say that you have bad luck that causes these things elevates you above the crowd into the real near quicksand that had a bit of volcanic activity going on underneath it, so he shut his ested, giddily

"The realaze at her and let her have it "The realm, miss, of rare air where resides those who require a special ic powers, both of which are sure nets of attention"

Berry did not reply Were her cheeks reddening, or was that the sunburni Matthew thought he saw her eyes gleaht had leaped off the rapier blade Greathouse had swung at hiirl who relished a good tangle

"Be nice, be nice," Grigsby muttered in his wine

"I can assure you, sir," said Berry, and there ca sic I&039; you what I know to be true all ued by-incidents of bad luck How h, believe s, and in the case of the preacher a sure drowningall the above and more I take the incident today as part of my spread of &039;fairy dust,&039; as you so eloquently put it By the way, you still have a lot of fairy dust in your hair"

"Unfortunately I have not been able to bathe today I regret the inconvenience to your sensibilities"

"Children," Grigsby said, "I&039;ht do to consider the hard earth of reality for a ood question, but Matthew shrugged to mask his uncertainty "I&039; house, I suppose Or maybe Mr Sudbury would let ht"

"The ti near It wouldn&039;t do to be walking froht-thirty Unless, of course, you wanted to sleep in the gaol" Grigsby drank down the rest of his wine and pushed his glass aside "Listen, Matthew, I have an idea"

Matthew listened, though he ary of Grigsby&039;s ideas Berry also seerandfather her full attention as he worked himself up to speak

"I&039;d offer my house, but with BeryluhBerry there now, I think you&039;d find it soh The Dutch dairy, besidesupplies and press parts Matthe that as a former "cool house" where milk and other perishables had once been stored, it would certainly be a nice change of tearret, but there was at least one proble couldn&039;t fix," said Grigsby

"Last call, gentlemen! Last call!" shouted Mr Sudbury, with a pull on the bell that hung over the bar "Closing in tenat Berry, though he could feel her eyes on him "It would be awfully small, wouldn&039;t iti"

"How much room do you needi Berry and I could clear soht use as you say, just for one night Or however long you wish, as ht Here&039;s the catch Putting hiht be talked into beginning his duties as a supervisor "No s in the place," he said "I&039; to look out at, in the darki Co as a storeroom now Plenty of space for a cot, and I could probably find a s desk for you as well, if you&039;d need that a lantern to brighten the place, and it&039;s hoht"

Matthew drank some more wine and considered it He was terribly tired, and didn&039;t care where he slept tonight as long as it was clean "No mice, are therei"

"None It&039;s as secure as a fort Lock on the door and the key&039;s in lance at Berry "What do you say about iti"

"I say, do as you please Unless you fear another stroke of my bad luck"

"What, doesn&039;t it ever run outi"

"Not that I&039;ve noticed"

"I don&039;t believe in bad luck"

"But surely, sir," she said with false sweetness, "you believe in good lucki Why should you not believe that a person ht be born under a dark cloudi"

"I think your dark cloud is self-lint in her eyes He kept going nevertheless "But perhaps it&039;s not attention you&039;re seeking after all Perhaps it&039;s a dark cloud to hide under"

"To hide underi" Herfrosby, which was fine for Matthew because he didn&039;t wish to fence with the girl any further, "is not dark clouds but where to spend a dark night What say you, Matthewi"

"I don&039;t say" If Berry had indeed been born under a dark cloud, she had the knack of raining all over other people as well Matthew realized he&039;d finished his third glass of wine yet he thirsted for a littleCoirl stood up from the table, and she walked on out of the tavern without a backward glance "Forgive her, Matthew She&039;s on edge You understand That with the ship and all Can you blame heri"

"Her luck may be questionable, but her bad manners are unfortunately not"

"I do think she feels she had so to do with the disaster Her mere presence, I suppose But don&039;t concern yourself, she&039;ll warm up to you very soon"

Matthened "Why should I care if she warhborly comment, that&039;s all Now listen, I s Would that suit youi"

"I haven&039;t decided, but thank you anyway"

"If you do decide in the positive, I&039;ll leave a lantern for you next to the door and on the door a cord with the key all righti"

Mattheas going to reply with a shrug, for Berry&039;s petulance was catching, but instead he sighed and said, "all right I&039; to have another drink first"

"Mind the decree," Grigsby cautioned, and then he also left the Trot

Matthew asked Sudbury for another half-glass of wine and drank it while he set up a chess problem on one of the boards and played it out Sudbury announced closing tiht o&039;clock, and finally Matthew picked up his bag of dusty belongings, thanked Sudbury for his kind hospitality, and left thefrom his donation cup He was the last custo bolted behind hiht onto Crown Street and then took the corner south onto S a circle, to turn left onto Wall Street and then back up Queen Street along the waterfront to Grigsby&039;s house He needed some air and some time to think a bit of wooziness softened his vision, but he was all right, mostly The street-corner lamps were lit, stars sparkled in the sky, and far to the east, over the atlantic, a distant thunderstoret indoors before the decree began at eight-thirty, but he kept his pace unhurried as he walked along Wall Street His mind was not on Brutus the bull nor the destruction of the pottery, but instead on the mysterious lady at the asylum

a trip to Philadelphia was indeed in his future, but if Primm would offer up no information, then hoas the Queen of Bedla every citizen of that town on the streets and describing the woht; it was an i Bad luck and a dark cloud Ridiculous

Back to the proble the woman He felt now as if he&039;d overplayed his hand with Greathouse You being the chief investigator on this, Greathouse had said Did the o to Philadelphia alone, and this basically his first case for the agencyi That was a fine initiation, wasn&039;t iti

and the girl needed a lesson inelse in her eyes behind that flash of anger, Matthew thought Perhaps it&039;s a dark cloud to hide under Was there more truth to that than he&039;d realizedi

He calow of the laht He still had tisby&039;s house was just two blocks north up the harbor street He took a ain, his irl

Onceflashed, far at sea The dark shapes of ships stood on his right, their spars and led smells of tar, pine, and dockwater drifted to hi Street, his mind fixed now on the demands of a six-day journey to Philadelphia-three days there and three back-when he heard a crunch behind hiravel or an oyster shell, and he was about to be-